Eh. I wouldn't want to stay alive forever and in the process watch everything and everyone I care about wither away and die. Detracts from the entire purpose of being alive, imo.

AS Dolash said, new friends and lovers can always be acquired - -as can the science of aiding them to live longer. Indeed, you could conceivably rule the world with such a power - conquering nation after nation and bending them to your will - who could stop you? Assasinations and bombs would be useless.

Allie

Eh, just my personal experience. I've seen too many discussions go haywire. I think I'll stay out of religious and political discussions (just watch, a few months down the road I'll make myself a hypocrite) on TRF though.

God should run for President.

To each his/her own.

To my own - what makes life special is its temporary nature... and death is a valuable part of that experience. I would feel removed from the world.

And what if this life isn't all there is? Not talking about the "afterlife" or heaven or anything like that, but what if our lives are akin to a butterfly's? Just a thought I've had floating around in my head for years. Maybe this is a stage we have to pass through to get to somewhere else, kind of our own caterpillar stage.

Here here.

The possibilities are endless as to what could happen or what may happen but all of us share one inescapeable reality - none of us have any damned clue as to what really lies afterwards. Fear, my friends - fear is the greatest drive in history and for me the greatest reason to seek or appreciate immortality. Yes, some of us bravely face the comming of the unknown. I myself hope that I stand before the Gates of Heaven or Hell with my boots polished and medals gleaming, stoic till the end. But whatever face I show or my eyes betray, the reality is that I am afraid, even if a little, of the unknown.

It is the fear of the unknown that has given rise to some of the most horrific events of all time as well as the most splendorous. Regardless, fear drives us.

What does all this mean, exactly? It means what it says - we do not know what lies beyond, hereafter, during the big sleep, etc. Therein lies the question - why face something you do not have to face? If instead of dreading or even wisely pondering the eternal question of "what happens when..." one can avoid the prospect by never having to face it.

Is it cowardice? Some would say yes, some no. Is it sidestepping judgement? Perhaps. We will not know.

Personally, I prefer immortality to oblivion

beffpike: Every person you ever met would be, in some fashion, inferior to you.

As much as I agree with the rest of your arguement I must diagree with this statement.

I would think that any mortal that an 'immortal' person would come across would be superior. Because they live and understand life, they know what it means to truly live because they know it will end some day so each moment counts. Carpe Diem as they say. If it life lasts forever what would be the point in do anything? You'd out last everyone and thing that you love so as you said you would doomed to loneliness, boredom, and madness (as you said) for eternity.

As for what comes after... I don't understand how certain you can be that there is nothing. Because you don't really know so your just guessing. I'm inclined to believe there is nothing as well, but that doesn't mean I'm so stupidly sure not think they're might be something more.

Considering I've haven't died I can't be sure.

Death gives meaning to our lives, defines them, makes them worth living. If we never died we would have no drive, no reason to do anything - in short, no reason to live.

You might live forever if you were immortal, but you would never truly live.

An interesting concept - is the short life lived well better than the long life made so through fear and inaction?

That is the second question, the one upon which the decision to become immortal hinges, for it would be a decision that could never be retracted or changed. I have to agree, having not considered the matter from that angle. The short life lived well is indeed preferable to the two. To live a thousand years in a cave caring only for the extension of an existence without purpose is definitely undesireable when compared to one of only three decades length where purpose and drive abounds.

An intriguing perspective.

It would be fun for about one lifetime and then you would grow bored, sad, lonely and go insane.

But for that one lifetime without a fear of dying would be pretty cool and fun I admit, but I would want to know I CAN die if I wanted to.